Author Archives: Jack Paley

Sandbox Publishing Animated Logo

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Click play to view my full video.

For our final design project, we were tasked with taking our original logo creation from the first project, and apply animation to it to create a smooth, animated brand logo. The video had to be ten seconds long and feature original animation that conveyed the aesthetic of the brand well. Thus, for my brand (Sandbox Publishing), I wanted to maintain the fun, creative elements that I had established early on and convey that through the motion of my image.

I took my Sandbox Publishing logo and separated all the different parts of the image to be their own unique layers in Illustrator. Then, I put them into After Effects where I could adjust them individually as I pleased. I settled on the idea of having my shovel “dig up” the sand in the book, which would pour the sand out the bottom and reveal my logo underneath. The first part of this was pretty simple. I had my sandbox/book plop down into the frame, then my pail, then my shovel. Using positioning and rotating keyframes, I had my shovel then lift up and move as if it was digging into one of my sand hills. I found a grainy-looking fade-in animation preset for my text which made it look like it was being built up out of sand. Last thing left was to actually have the sand pour out of my book.

Unsure of how to start this, I turned to the web, looking up tutorials on how to create sand-like motion in After Effects. After much searching, I finally found a helpful video explaining the effect “CC Particle World,” a preset that created a firework-like motion of particles that was easily adjustable. I matched the color of the effect to my sand, and changed the motion from an outward burst to a directional line, where the particles would fall downwards in a straight line. I played with the size and shape of the particles until they felt like sand, and then set the in and out points and where the speed of the falling sand should ramp up, then slow down. I also added a “bounce” effect to my sand, where once the particles hit a predetermined “floor” position I selected, the sand would bounce and spray up for a moment before disappearing. This gave it a realistic feel that acted the way that sand really would if you were to pour it on the ground. I put my sand layer behind my book to create the illusion that the sand was bursting out of the book from the bottom, and timed it with the fade-in of my text.

Overall, I am incredibly happy with how this animation turned out. I think it is fun but looks professional, and the sound effects I chose to go along with it (just some sand sound effects and an upbeat background music selection) all paired really well to make a full video.

Conceptual Illustration

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Click here to view my full PDF design.

For this project, I carefully considered the three story options given to us before deciding on the article about a robot that was created to purposefully waste the time of telemarketers. I thought this was the most engaging, original story of the three and I could see my illustration going any number of ways.

I knew that I did not want to create a full illustration of a robot in my design, wanting to stay away from an image that was too cartoony or silly, but instead lean into one that is fun and eye catching. I wanted to highlight my illustrative skills by drawing every image on the page, but wanted to walk the line between having it come off as too realistic or too childish. I looked to other examples of illustrated conceptual designs in newspapers and magazines, getting some inspirations in the type of drawings I saw as well as aspects of color-usage, typography and layout. In thinking about the best way to capture the heart of the story, I thought about different keywords regarding the players in my story. Tech. Business. Trapped. Phones. I finally settled on the idea of a phone cord, and literally having someone be trapped within the tangles of the line and unable to move; a metaphor for what this robot was doing to the telemarketers’ time.

I began with the robot, using the imagery of a more modern version of a physical robot, with smooth, clean machinery that appeared lifelike. I believed this was the best way to avoid creating a caricature of a robot, while still having an image that is recognize-able to people. I chose just to draw the hand to create this sense of power the robot holds, dangling the humans they call by their fingertips. The phone was simple; I used real images of landline phones and chose a blockier, straightforward phone layout that would look good in the robot’s hand. The telemarketer was my biggest decision. I knew I wanted a good blend of realistic, sophisticated rendering with the fun, more zany element of the story. Thus, I settled on a faceless, basically colorless drawing of a man in a suit that I think pairs well with the rest of the elements. To create the cords of the phone, I originally used the preset phone cord brush available in Illustrator. But after some trial and error, and especially after learning the fact that I could not adjust the color of the black cord preset they gave me, I decided just to use the brush as a guide, creating a path of the general direction I wanted my own cord to go, and then drawing the actual phone cord by hand to make it the color and size I desired.

Once all the elements were complete, I went for a light blue backdrop for my image, keeping in mind the aesthetics that come from picturing the words “tech” and “business,” and found a more futuristic, blocky typography for my headline that felt similar to something you would see in coding, without being too obvious. On the second page, I laid out my text, retained the light blue coloring for my sidebar element, and then carried over parts of the images from the first page, namely the phone and the cord. I felt I was still missing something, specifically a brand new drawn element, and so I went back to Illustrator and drew the robot’s hand again, this time completely open.

Finally, with such an interesting story with crazy quotes about the thought process of the AI, I chose to select three of my favorite quotes from the reading and magnify them to draw the reader’s eye. Overall, I am quite pleased with how my design came together, proud of my abilities in illustrating and happy with the overall look of my design because of the various elements I chose. If I could do one thing differently, I think I would have created another original illustration element for the second page instead of just carrying the entire phone over. Something fresh and new that maybe fits a little better with the layout of the page.

Influence Poster (Influence of Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec)

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My poster influenced by the style of Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec
Click my poster to see the full PDF view

For this project, I chose Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec as an inspirations for my poster because I was always a great fan of all his work. From his paintings to his posters, Toulouse-Lautrec’s style is distinguishable from afar, and captures a feeling of everyday life that is hard to put into words. The way he paints the elegant culture of the late 1800s and the social sensibilities of the time period always stuck with me when observing his work. Thus, I thought this would both translate well to the idea of IU Dance Marathon- a weekend long dance party event to raise money- as well as humorously contrast that notion of high society and elegance in Toulouse-Lautrec’s work with the casual, modest style of the Dance Marathon in which students wear rainbow clothing, capes, flower necklaces and whatever else they can get their hands on that will accurately reflect their team’s colors. From a design standpoint, Toulouse-Lautrec’s notions of color felt perfect for capturing the IU Dance Marathon because of this heavy emphasis at the event of bold colors to make a statement.

Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec’s “Moulin Rouge: La Goulue”

In trying to convey a scene of dance and a party atmosphere, the first of Toulouse-Latrec’s work I turned to was his iconic poster of Moulin Rouge, in which he expressed a watercolor-filled world of performance. A well-dressed gentleman stands in the foreground, as behind him a woman in a large dress dances for a mysterious silhouetted audience. I utilized his dominating usage of specified foreground, middle ground and background elements into my party scene, creating my own two figures to demonstrate the differing aspects of participation during the marathon, as well as a silhouetted group in the background that conveys the instantly-recognizable “total reveal” at the end of the marathon when the final amount is displayed on large cards.

This poster was also a great influence on my typography, which like Toulouse-Latrec, I hand-drew myself. I utilized a soft typeface I found online, then typed my text out and sketched over it all to have that hand-drawn look while still utilizing the professional appearance of an actual typeface. I then stretched out certain letters to create that longer text feel that Toulouse-Latrec utilized in this poster, and took influence from his usage of bright colors in the majority of the typography.

Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec’s “The Force of Mlle Eglantine”

For the actual design itself, I took inspiration from “”The Force of Mlle Eglantine,” a poster that features several women in a line, dancing. I was drawn to the strong usage of yellow coloring for the space, and the outlines of the women, which change in strength and size often. Thus, in my own work I employed much yellow in my background as Toulouse-Lautrec often did, and utilized an oval brush shape for drawing my figures that would allow for my lines to reflect the direction and weight in which I drew them- similar to a real pen or paintbrush. This gave my people a bit more of a “sketched” look, and I even erased certain parts of my figure’s outlines to emphasize this further; if you look closely at the feathers in the top of the women’s hats, you can see a similar absence of line in certain places.

Overall, I am quite happy with how my design turned out. I believe I accurately reflected lots of Toulouse-Lautrec’s style elements in my own design while remaining original. I really enjoy how my texture looks on a closer inspection, and all of my background elements- the watercoloring, the usage of abstract shapes, the thin lines- help the piece stand out and be memorable. If I was to redo my project and make changes, I would probably go even further in making the people in my design look hand-sketched. While I did employ several techniques to give them this appearance, in the final render it didn’t look as handmade as I had hoped. In the end I am still proud with my final design and while Toulouse-Lautrec was a bold choice, I am glad I chose his work as inspiration.